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Will LSU's junior players leave?

Published: Saturday, November 17, 2012 at 6:01 a.m.

Last Modified: Saturday, November 17, 2012 at 11:59 p.m.

LSU's football team had its senior day during the 41-35 win over Southeastern Conference rival Ole Miss on Saturday.

It was quite a moment for the young men who have spent at least four seasons in Baton Rouge, but the talk from now until mid-January will be just how many top juniors from this very talented LSU team will leave to play in the NFL.

It would be surprising if we saw defensive ends Barkevious Mingo and Sam Montgomery, along with free safety Eric Reid, return to play another season at LSU.

I know LSU fans would really want all three to return to play another year of college football, but reality is that if they declare early, Mingo will be one of the Top 10 picks in the 2013 NFL Draft, Montgomery would be a top 15 pick and Reid would be a Top 25 pick.

All three have not had great junior campaigns, but the talent level and NFL potential is there for them to become top-picks in the upcoming NFL draft.

Defensive tackle Bennie Logan is also a player that is considering coming out early. The 6-foot-2, 290-pound interior defensive lineman does an excellent job in pursuit plays, and he has the potential to be a very good inside pass rusher at the next level. He reminds me of former New Orleans Saints defensive tackle La'Roi Glover, and I have him projected as a late first- or early-second round selection.

One player on offense I am convinced will come out early will be halfback Spencer Ware. The junior from Cincinnati is a very physical runner, a tremendous receiver and a good blocker.

I think Ware is a better football player than former LSU runner Stevan Ridley, who was a third-round pick in 2011 by the New England Patriots. And he sees the writing on the wall with Jeremy Hill being the "lead dog" runner for next season.

The intrigue will be what will happen to three players on the fence about what to do in 2013.

Third-year sophomore Brad Wing, middle linebacker Kevin Minter and cornerback Tharold Simon will have a tough choice to make in January.

Wing is not having the type season he had in 2011, but he is healthy now and displaying the hang-time and long distance punting skills we saw last season.

Minter is not just having an All-SEC season, but an All-American season. Minter, the 6-1 3/4, 240-pound linebacker has been a tackling machine for the Tigers and displaying great football instincts, rarely taking a false step to the ball. He is a sure open-field tackler and a very good cover guy. I would give Minter a second-round pick grade if he decided to come out early and he is having a good season this year, just like Kelvin Sheppard, a third-round selection in the 2011 draft pick by the Buffalo Bills, had as a senior at LSU.

I firmly believe that Minter is a better linebacker prospect than Sheppard was in 2011.

Simon, a 6-1, 200-pound cover cornerback, is another LSU player who will have to make a hard choice. He has long arms, a huge wingspan and good ball reaction skills. While Simon is not nearly as fast as Patrick Peterson or Morris Claiborne was at LSU, and he will bite at times on double-moves made by a receiver, the NFL loves tall match-up cornerbacks and Simon would get a late second or early third round grade if he decides to come out early.

But the one player that constantly gets asked about is quarterback Zach Mettenberger, who is putting together a late run similar to the one put together by JaMarcus Russell in 2006, when it propelled him to the top pick in the 2007 draft. However, I fully expect Mettenberger to return to LSU next season.

Mettenberger has the physical skills to be a top pick in the 2014 NFL draft with improvement with his accuracy skills, touch and foot work, but what he really needs is more experience playing against the toughest competition at the college level and his ability to move better inside and outside of the pocket.

LSU is going through what we have seen in year's past from Miami (Fla.), USC, Alabama, Oklahoma, Ohio State and Florida in losing juniors early, and we all know that LSU and Coach Les Miles knows how to recruit, but it will be how fast can he reload the talent gun on defense next year that will be the big question mark.

It will be a very interesting time between now and mid January for the LSU Tiger football team.

SAINTS DRAFT SUCCESS

The New Orleans Saints have made some really good draft day trades in the Sean Payton era in New Orleans.

In 2006, the Saints traded down with the Philadelphia Eagles in the fourth round and acquired veteran defensive tackle Hollis Thomas, who was a solid contributor in the 2006 season. The Saints also picked up All-Pro offensive guard Jahri Evans with the later pick in the fourth-round.

But another draft day trade that has really worked out extremely well was the Saints trading up in the fifth-round of the 2009 draft to select SMU punter Thomas Morstead.

The Saints dealt a fifth-round pick in 2010 and a seventh round pick in the 2009 draft to deal up to acquire the strong-legged punter and he has paid off with huge dividends.

On the day after the 2009 draft, SMU head coach June Jones was on our Draft Day addition of the "The Second Guess Show" on WWL-870 radio and told me that Morstead was the best punter he had ever coached at the college and pro level.

When the Saints take on the Oakland Raiders today, it will be interesting to see one of the all-time premier punters in Oakland's 9-time Pro-Bowler player Shane Lechler, who was named to the NFL's All-2000's team, go up against arguably the best punter in the NFL in Morstead.

Morstead is not only a good punter, but one of the best kickoff men in the game also. But when looking at the statistics this season, Morstead is on the verge of setting new records as a punter.

In 2009, Lechler set an NFL record by averaging 43.85 yards per punt net yards.

This season, Morstead is averaging 45.4 yards per punt net average, putting him in the range of besting the all-time mark.

In 1940, Sammy Baugh with the Washington Redskins set a new NFL record by averaging 51.40 yards per punt for the highest average "gross" per season.

In 2009, Lechler averaged 51.14 yards per gross punt.

This season, Morstead is averaging 51.0 yards per gross punt.

It has just been a superb year for Morstead and he is one of the best football players on this team.

When you consider just how good Evans, quarterback Drew Brees and tight end Jimmy Graham are at their respective positions, you also have to say that Morstead is in that same category as a punter.

Saints special teams coach Greg McMahon says that Morstead is a blue-collar guy and he means that in the highest regard.

"I know there is a better term for it, but Thomas comes with his lunchpale and his workmanlike attitude toward bettering his craft everyday," McMahon said. "People don't realize the work and attention to detail the specialists in this game put forward and Thomas comes to the practice field, the film room and playing field fully prepared, and both mentally and physically ready for the challenge at hand. He has a great work ethic to go along with tremendous football skills. Everyone in this league says you get the ultimate respect by how you are getting paid and this organization fully understands what he means to this team. He is a defensive force in changing field position on special teams."

UNDERRATED DUO

The pass-catch duo of Brees to receiver Marques Colston has to be the most underrated tandem in pro football. Colston is no "diva" receiver in the NFL, and he is having another terrific season with the Saints.

Last week, he tied running back Deuce McAllister with the most career touchdowns in a Saints uniform with 55.

If this was an episode of "Jeopardy," I think very few would name the three players with the most touchdown receptions since 2006, which are Larry Fitzgerald (59), Randy Moss (57) and Colston (55).

CLARK LIKES BREES

Joe Clark is retired from coaching in the NFL, but he still keeps close tabs on the league. Clark, a Mathews resident who has coached nine Pro Bowl quarterbacks over 40 years at the college and pro level, said Brees is the best quarterback in the NFL.

"There are some really talented passers out there today in Tom Brady, Peyton Manning. Matt Ryan and Aaron Rodgers, but Drew Brees is the best quarterback in the game today," said Clark, who guided quarterbacks such as Kurt Warner, Jake Delhomme, Brian Sipe and Don Majkowski during his coaching career.

"His ability to find that crease downfield to make a throw is remarkable," Clark added. "Not being very tall sometimes will limit the view you have downfield to make the accurate read and throw, but Brees puts himself in a position to find that viewpoint and make the throw and it is a very catchable pass. Sometimes the quarterback can get the ball near the point where it should be, but it is just a little off and it makes the catch tougher. With Brees he can hit that receiver in stride and he gives him a shot to make something happen after the catch. He's like that great assist man in basketball than can get the ball out quick and set up the fastbreak lay-up. Without his head coach in Sean Payton Brees is having not just a Pro Bowl season, but an MVP season."

<p>LSU's football team had its senior day during the 41-35 win over Southeastern Conference rival Ole Miss on Saturday.</p><p>It was quite a moment for the young men who have spent at least four seasons in Baton Rouge, but the talk from now until mid-January will be just how many top juniors from this very talented LSU team will leave to play in the NFL.</p><p>It would be surprising if we saw defensive ends Barkevious Mingo and Sam Montgomery, along with free safety Eric Reid, return to play another season at LSU.</p><p>I know LSU fans would really want all three to return to play another year of college football, but reality is that if they declare early, Mingo will be one of the Top 10 picks in the 2013 NFL Draft, Montgomery would be a top 15 pick and Reid would be a Top 25 pick.</p><p>All three have not had great junior campaigns, but the talent level and NFL potential is there for them to become top-picks in the upcoming NFL draft.</p><p>Defensive tackle Bennie Logan is also a player that is considering coming out early. The 6-foot-2, 290-pound interior defensive lineman does an excellent job in pursuit plays, and he has the potential to be a very good inside pass rusher at the next level. He reminds me of former New Orleans Saints defensive tackle La'Roi Glover, and I have him projected as a late first- or early-second round selection.</p><p>One player on offense I am convinced will come out early will be halfback Spencer Ware. The junior from Cincinnati is a very physical runner, a tremendous receiver and a good blocker. </p><p>I think Ware is a better football player than former LSU runner Stevan Ridley, who was a third-round pick in 2011 by the New England Patriots. And he sees the writing on the wall with Jeremy Hill being the "lead dog" runner for next season.</p><p>The intrigue will be what will happen to three players on the fence about what to do in 2013.</p><p>Third-year sophomore Brad Wing, middle linebacker Kevin Minter and cornerback Tharold Simon will have a tough choice to make in January.</p><p>Wing is not having the type season he had in 2011, but he is healthy now and displaying the hang-time and long distance punting skills we saw last season.</p><p>Minter is not just having an All-SEC season, but an All-American season. Minter, the 6-1 3/4, 240-pound linebacker has been a tackling machine for the Tigers and displaying great football instincts, rarely taking a false step to the ball. He is a sure open-field tackler and a very good cover guy. I would give Minter a second-round pick grade if he decided to come out early and he is having a good season this year, just like Kelvin Sheppard, a third-round selection in the 2011 draft pick by the Buffalo Bills, had as a senior at LSU. </p><p>I firmly believe that Minter is a better linebacker prospect than Sheppard was in 2011.</p><p>Simon, a 6-1, 200-pound cover cornerback, is another LSU player who will have to make a hard choice. He has long arms, a huge wingspan and good ball reaction skills. While Simon is not nearly as fast as Patrick Peterson or Morris Claiborne was at LSU, and he will bite at times on double-moves made by a receiver, the NFL loves tall match-up cornerbacks and Simon would get a late second or early third round grade if he decides to come out early.</p><p>But the one player that constantly gets asked about is quarterback Zach Mettenberger, who is putting together a late run similar to the one put together by JaMarcus Russell in 2006, when it propelled him to the top pick in the 2007 draft. However, I fully expect Mettenberger to return to LSU next season.</p><p>Mettenberger has the physical skills to be a top pick in the 2014 NFL draft with improvement with his accuracy skills, touch and foot work, but what he really needs is more experience playing against the toughest competition at the college level and his ability to move better inside and outside of the pocket.</p><p>LSU is going through what we have seen in year's past from Miami (Fla.), USC, Alabama, Oklahoma, Ohio State and Florida in losing juniors early, and we all know that LSU and Coach Les Miles knows how to recruit, but it will be how fast can he reload the talent gun on defense next year that will be the big question mark. </p><p>It will be a very interesting time between now and mid January for the LSU Tiger football team.</p><p>SAINTS DRAFT SUCCESS </p><p>The New Orleans Saints have made some really good draft day trades in the Sean Payton era in New Orleans. </p><p>In 2006, the Saints traded down with the Philadelphia Eagles in the fourth round and acquired veteran defensive tackle Hollis Thomas, who was a solid contributor in the 2006 season. The Saints also picked up All-Pro offensive guard Jahri Evans with the later pick in the fourth-round.</p><p>But another draft day trade that has really worked out extremely well was the Saints trading up in the fifth-round of the 2009 draft to select SMU punter Thomas Morstead.</p><p>The Saints dealt a fifth-round pick in 2010 and a seventh round pick in the 2009 draft to deal up to acquire the strong-legged punter and he has paid off with huge dividends.</p><p>On the day after the 2009 draft, SMU head coach June Jones was on our Draft Day addition of the "The Second Guess Show" on WWL-870 radio and told me that Morstead was the best punter he had ever coached at the college and pro level.</p><p>When the Saints take on the Oakland Raiders today, it will be interesting to see one of the all-time premier punters in Oakland's 9-time Pro-Bowler player Shane Lechler, who was named to the NFL's All-2000's team, go up against arguably the best punter in the NFL in Morstead.</p><p>Morstead is not only a good punter, but one of the best kickoff men in the game also. But when looking at the statistics this season, Morstead is on the verge of setting new records as a punter.</p><p>In 2009, Lechler set an NFL record by averaging 43.85 yards per punt net yards.</p><p>This season, Morstead is averaging 45.4 yards per punt net average, putting him in the range of besting the all-time mark.</p><p>In 1940, Sammy Baugh with the Washington Redskins set a new NFL record by averaging 51.40 yards per punt for the highest average "gross" per season.</p><p>In 2009, Lechler averaged 51.14 yards per gross punt.</p><p>This season, Morstead is averaging 51.0 yards per gross punt.</p><p>It has just been a superb year for Morstead and he is one of the best football players on this team.</p><p>When you consider just how good Evans, quarterback Drew Brees and tight end Jimmy Graham are at their respective positions, you also have to say that Morstead is in that same category as a punter.</p><p>Saints special teams coach Greg McMahon says that Morstead is a blue-collar guy and he means that in the highest regard.</p><p>"I know there is a better term for it, but Thomas comes with his lunchpale and his workmanlike attitude toward bettering his craft everyday," McMahon said. "People don't realize the work and attention to detail the specialists in this game put forward and Thomas comes to the practice field, the film room and playing field fully prepared, and both mentally and physically ready for the challenge at hand. He has a great work ethic to go along with tremendous football skills. Everyone in this league says you get the ultimate respect by how you are getting paid and this organization fully understands what he means to this team. He is a defensive force in changing field position on special teams."</p><p>UNDERRATED DUO</p><p>The pass-catch duo of Brees to receiver Marques Colston has to be the most underrated tandem in pro football. Colston is no "diva" receiver in the NFL, and he is having another terrific season with the Saints. </p><p>Last week, he tied running back Deuce McAllister with the most career touchdowns in a Saints uniform with 55.</p><p>If this was an episode of "Jeopardy," I think very few would name the three players with the most touchdown receptions since 2006, which are Larry Fitzgerald (59), Randy Moss (57) and Colston (55). </p><p>CLARK LIKES BREES</p><p>Joe Clark is retired from coaching in the NFL, but he still keeps close tabs on the league. Clark, a Mathews resident who has coached nine Pro Bowl quarterbacks over 40 years at the college and pro level, said Brees is the best quarterback in the NFL.</p><p>"There are some really talented passers out there today in Tom Brady, Peyton Manning. Matt Ryan and Aaron Rodgers, but Drew Brees is the best quarterback in the game today," said Clark, who guided quarterbacks such as Kurt Warner, Jake Delhomme, Brian Sipe and Don Majkowski during his coaching career. </p><p>"His ability to find that crease downfield to make a throw is remarkable," Clark added. "Not being very tall sometimes will limit the view you have downfield to make the accurate read and throw, but Brees puts himself in a position to find that viewpoint and make the throw and it is a very catchable pass. Sometimes the quarterback can get the ball near the point where it should be, but it is just a little off and it makes the catch tougher. With Brees he can hit that receiver in stride and he gives him a shot to make something happen after the catch. He's like that great assist man in basketball than can get the ball out quick and set up the fastbreak lay-up. Without his head coach in Sean Payton Brees is having not just a Pro Bowl season, but an MVP season."</p><p>NFL analyst Mike Detillier is based in Raceland.</p>